21. Izzy

Chapter 21

Izzy

M y head felt fuzzy with a dull ache as I tried to piece together where I was this time.

I am tired of waking up in an undisclosed location, bound and blinded.

I tried to find humor in this situation, but how fucked up was it that I snuck out of Emilio’s house to meet my mother and the next thing I knew, I was getting thrown into a van and my world went dark. That this had happened so shortly after Sebastian took me…

I didn’t believe they were coincidences. But why would my mother lure me here? Had she lost her mind? Was she that bad of a person to kidnap her own child? And to what gain?

What in the ever-loving fuck is going on?

While I was most assuredly blindfolded and tied to a chair, my mouth was surprisingly uncovered. “Hello?” I called out softly.

“Izzy?”

That was not the voice I expected to hear. Confusion hit me in the temple.

“ Yara ?”

“Fuck, why did he take you too? Why are you here?” Yara’s voice was coated in a deep unsettling sadness. Hopelessness.

“Who? Who took us?”

A door opened and shut to my left, a waft of cold air slapping against my skin.

“Ladies, now that I have you both. It’s time for the reunion to begin!”

My blindfold was ripped off and I was suddenly face-to-face with a man.

A man I recognized.

“Him,” Yara snarled from next to me.

I turned my attention to her. She was on the ground, her arms and legs chained to the wall. Her typically blonde hair was cut nearly all the way off in haphazard chops. And the bruises. Her face, her arms, her legs.

I wanted to scream, to cry, to run to her. My vision shaded red as anger pulsated through me, heating my blood and causing my heart to patter aggressively against my ribs.

What had they done to my best friend?

How dare they?

I was so caught up in my anger and indignation that I almost missed her explanation.

“My dad is back.”

I whipped back to the man before me. What does my step-father have to do with her dad?

Confusion dug its way against my temples, the headache ramping up a notch as I tried to make sense of it all.

"Steve?"

"How do you know my dad, Stephen?"

It didn't make sense. How was this possible? This couldn't be true.

I wanted to deny it all, but the truth was literally staring me directly in the eyes.

It had been a while since I had seen Steve, but there was no mistaking it. He was Steve Landon, my step-father.